Fiona Mead named as a finalist in the NSW-ACT Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) Rural Women's Award

Congratulations to Narrabri local Fiona Mead who has been named as a finalist in the 2016 NSW-ACT Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) Rural Women's Award.

Fiona Mead has been recognised for her dedication to improving our primary industries and rural communities, and named as a finalist in this year’s Rural Women’s Award, each applicant submitted a project initiative as part of the award, aiming to drive regional communities and primary industries’ growth and prosperity.

Fiona’s project‘Rural New Generation Project’ aims to introduce younger farmers onto the land by providing ideas on innovative pathways into farming.

“It will assist emerging farmers to acquire knowledge that will ensure they have the tools and skills required to move into agricultural enterprises.

“The award identifies and supports emerging women leaders who have the desire, commitment and leadership potential to make a greater contribution to our local area.

The overall four finalists for 2016 are Sophie Hansen from Orange, Fiona Mead from Narrabri, Aimee Snowden from Tocumwal and Hannah Wandel from Kingston ACT.

The winner will be announced in 8 March at Parliament House in Sydney, and will receive a bursary of $10,000 and participate in an Australian Institute of Company Directors’ course.

The three finalists will receive a $1000 NSW Department of Primary Industries Leadership Bursary for skills and leadership development.

The award provides financial assistance, mentoring, resources and peer support via a nation-wide network of dynamic business and community leaders through the award alumni.

The NSW-ACT winner will compete for the National RIRDC Rural Women’s Award on 12 October&am

The benefits of improving native fish habitat will be communicated to the local community through locally run events.

In the Namoi, Narrabri Shire Council, the LLS and Narrabri Fishing Club received a joint grant of $22,605 to enhance the Namoi River Recreational Fishing Reserve.

This will include rehabilitating a degraded recreational fishing reserve by removing noxious, invasive and environmental weeds, re-vegetating with native species and removing rubbish along the Namoi River.

Funding for these grants was provided through the Recreational Fishing Trusts from money raised by the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee and spent on activities to improve recreational fishing

The Recreational Fishing Trust - Habitat Action Grant Program is a great example of how anglers’ money is being invested back into recreational fishing and supporting the improvement of recreational fish populations.

Lucy Cormack Environment Reporter SMH

Next time you are sleeping under the stars, consider this: above you there could also be noodles, lasagne sheets or hazelnuts – or, at least, invisible structures shaped like them.

The structures appear to be "lumps" in the thin gas that lies between the stars in our galaxy.

In a breakthrough observation of one of these "lumps", CSIRO astronomers have been able to make the first estimate of its shape.

The lumps were first discovered in 1987, but technological limitations at the time made it difficult to perform any real mathematical modelling or to determine the shape of the structures, due to the time delay between recording the find and realising what they had captured.

National News | January 25, 2016 | by Chris Dobney

Federal environment minister Greg Hunt’s first cousin has taken the extraordinary action of suspending herself 12 metres in the air to block access to construction vehicles and interrupt work at Santos’ controversial Leewood coal seam gas wastewater plant in the Pilliga, north-west NSW.

Jen Hunt is a 51-year-old retired social worker, a mother of two and stepmother of six. She is the latest of a series of people who have taken peaceful direct action and risked arrest to stop the controversial project over the last two months.

Ms Hunt says she wants to send a message to her cousin about the need to protect the Great Artesian Basin. So she suspended herself on a platform hanging from a tree in an effot to halt Santos’ construction work.

She was joined today by 20 supporters including two ‘climate angels’ from Lismore who are part of an international theatrical movement for peaceful climate action. In the past two weeks ten people have been charged for involvement in protests at the Leewood site.

He joined the protest to draw attention to Santos’ broader plan for 850 wells in the Pilliga. The Leewood facility is designed to treat up to one million litres of coal seam gas wastewater each day from exploratory works in the forest, and is under construction without development consent.

Mr Joll, 49, was shocked at the size of the project which protesters say threatens the Great Artesian Basin.

Peter Hannam - Sydney Morning Herald

The government has met with a series of anti-mining activists amid slumping industry fortunes, apparently making good on a pledge to give more equal weight to environmental and social issues when considering mine approvals.

The conciliatory approach with activists comes at a crucial time for the coal mining industry, with Premier Mike Baird's government considering approvals to mine 1.2 billion tonnes, after approving 1.8 billion tonnes of new coal mining since he became premier.

Angela Macdonald-Smith - Sydney Morning Herald

Santos's credit rating has been cut to the lowest investment grade as the oil and gas producer advised it will book asset write-downs expected to reach into several billion dollars due to the collapse in oil prices.

The company also advised of write-downs of its petroleum reserves at its full-year earnings report next month and flagged further reductions to spending and costs beyond hefty cutbacks made last year.

The downgrade in Santos's credit rating to BBB- from BBB was widely expected after Standard & Poor's slashed the oil price assumptions used to assess the sector's creditworthiness. The outlook on the reduced rating, one notch above "junk" status, is negative, which looks set to feed fears in the market that another equity raising will be required if prices don't recover soon.

"We now expect the company's credit metrics will not recover to a level in line with the previous BBB rating," S&P analyst Craig Parker said.

Struggling oil and gas producer Santos has warned investors

Struggling oil and gas producer Santos has warned investors that it will take asset value write-downs, but has not put an estimate on how big they will be.

The Adelaide-based energy company has seen its share price fall 72 per cent from a recent peak of $9.10 in May, to yesterday's close of just $2.56, leaving the company hovering around its lowest share price since the early 1990s.

In its fourth-quarter production report Santos reiterated comments in a November 9 investor presentation that it expected to book reductions to asset carrying values and reserves in its full-year accounts, to be released on February 19.

Want to drive change on farm and in the Grains industry? The 2016 Australian Farm Grain Leaders Program is about to kick off. Join 9 other young farmers to visit farms in Queensland and Western Australia and visit with industry leaders in Sydney . Grow your own knowledge and skills to apply to your own farm project. Meet industry leaders and attend the industry’s Innovation Generation conference in Western Australia. For more Information contact Facilitator – Jo Eady Phone 0419912879 or email jo.eady@bigpond.com. Applications close 29 January. This program is an initiative of and funded by Grain Growers Limited.

By EDO NSW CEO/Principal Solicitor Sue Higginson

You may have heard that our client People for the Plains, a community group from the Pilliga, is taking CSG company Santos to court over its Leewood CSG waste water development near the iconic Pilliga woodlands. The group argues that without a proper environmental assessment and public consultation, the development is illegal.

The Pilliga – a biodiversity hotspotThe Pilliga is the largest remaining unfragmented block of temperate dry forest and woodland in eastern Australia. It functions as a key refuge for native plants and animals in a landscape largely cleared for agriculture. It is part of a National Biodiversity Hotspot, home to rare species such as the Pilliga Mouse, and is recognised as a globally significant Important Bird Area.[1]

The Pilliga is an important, biodiverse ecosystem. It is also a significant recharge area for the Great Artesian Basin, one of the largest underground water reservoirs in the world and the most important ground water resource in arid and semi-arid eastern Australia.

Within this stunning environment, the Leewood Water Treatment Plant will process over 1 million litres of coal seam gas (CSG) waste water every day. Santos then plans to use the water to irrigate crops on farmland next to the Pilliga forest.

The IA Watson Grains Research Centre near Narrabri is poised for major expansion.

The I.A. Watson Grains Research Centre at Sydney University’s Plant Breeding Institute Narrabri is internationally recognised as a leader in grains research.

The centre has grown significantly in recent years and is now poised for further major expansion.

“In a few weeks a very significant new appointment will be made taking us into a completely new research area,” said Associate Professor Richard Heath.

“This is yet another facet of the expansion of the work done here and the significance of the Narrabri site.

“The Narrabri PBI will continue to grow.”

Apart from its role as an agricultural research facility, the Plant Breeding Institute is also an important Narrabri Shire industry, employing 18 academic, farm and administration staff full and part time and hosting up to 30 visiting PhD students each year.

Last year the PBI took a major step forward with the acquisition of Ron and Gloria Campey’s 1800 ha property Llara adjacent to the research farm.